We reached Ferrell on Tuesday and asked: So what's the real reason you're leaving — to which he replied with a laugh. Ferrell was a full-time employee for a decade at DTC, where he worked under artistic director Kevin Moriarty.

"I wish there was something fabulous and espionage-y to say, but really, no, there isn't," he said. "Over the last couple of years, I have been hoping to pursue things with a little more freedom. The double-edged sword is, my whole early career, I dreamed of having an artistic home, where I felt truly integrated and really valued. And the Theater Center has been that and then some.

"It sounds probably a little gushy, but it's been a remarkable decade, and very early on in that 10 years, it felt very palpably as though Kevin and the board and the whole organization valued me and that I had something to offer and all that good stuff.

"But, it's been a full decade, which blows my mind. There are just some things that I want to pursue that I didn't feel like I could make time and bandwidth for if I was still full-time. It just felt like I could use the incredible safety net that is this artistic home and which is happy to continue a relationship with me, and vice versa, to springboard onto some things that I might not have wanted to risk 20 years ago."

Joel Ferrell, director of Dallas Theater Center's Romeo and Juliet, poses for a photograph at the Kalita Humphreys Theater in Dallas on Jan. 29, 2016.

(Rose Baca/Staff Photographer)

Asked if he would like to be an artistic director, he said, "My pat answer for that is yes — if it's a good fit."

He said he had nothing specific or definite lined up but said that he's "up for a couple of jobs in other places." He said he wasn't far enough along with either to know how solid the possibilities are or "whether I'm truly interested or not."

Born in Waco, Ferrell grew up in Fort Worth, where he graduated from Eastern Hills High School.

"There are a million ideas floating in my head," said the man who just turned 60.

He said he has the feeling, "Look, you have plenty of time left, but you have finite time left. You have not dipped your toe into certain things and certain areas."